Nutritional powerhouse

"Wanted! A vegetable that will grow in any climate, will rival meat in nutritive value, will mature in 3 to 5 days, may be planted any day of the year, will require neither soil nor sunshine, will rival tomatoes in Vitamin C, will be free of waste in preparation and can be cooked with little fuel and as quickly as a ... chop."
- Dr Mc Kay

Sprouts are rich in vitamins, minerals, amino acids, proteins and phytochemicals, as these are necessary for a germinating plant to grow. They are also rich in nutrients essential for human health.
Advocates of a raw food diet promote the use of sprouting as an effective way to increase the nutrient value, and digestibility, of beans, seeds and nuts. Sprouts are in fact the most nutrient dense food on earth– nutrient density refers to the amount of nutrients per calorie. This is why many people on a low-calorie diet make sprouts and baby greens the mainstay of their diet, especially blended for easier digestion.

Dr. McKay was talking about soybean sprouts. He and a team of nutritionists had spent years researching the amazing properties of sprouted soybeans. They and other researchers at the universities of Pennsylvania and Minnesota, Yale and McGill have found that sprouts retain the B-complex vitamins present in the original seed, and show a big jump in Vitamin A and an almost unbelievable amount of Vitamin C over that present in unsprouted seeds. While some nutritionists point out that this high vitamin content is gained at the expense of some protein loss, the figures are impressive: an average 300 percent increase in Vitamin A and a 500 to 600 percent increase in Vitamin C. In addition, in the sprouting process starches are converted to simple sugars, thus making sprouts easily digested.

If you examine what is happening during germination, it looks like a vitamin factory. Imagine, sprouts are what grow into plants which have the ability to make seeds and then grow into plants again.. and again and again and again... ever-lasting energy!

Here's a great read!

How do you sprout?
I hate to make this really simple, but sprouting is simple!

- Wash your seeds well with fresh water and put them into a glass jar
- Fill with about 2-3 inches of fresh boiled water
- Cover with a cloth held by a rubberband and store in a dark place (preferably an airy cabinet)
- Wash your seeds twice a day, they dont require more than that. Please wash them well
- Watch them grow!
-> Dave shows it with pictures

Please refer to a good website for sprouting charts to get an idea of how long a seed, nut, legume, etc would take to germinate.